Marshall MITCHELL, Petitioner,
v.
Michael W. MOORE, Respondent.
Supreme Court of Florida.
*523 Susan L. Kelsey of Holland & Knight LLP, Tallahassee, FL, for Petitioner.
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, and Douglas T. Squire and Charlie McCoy, Assistant Attorneys General, Tallahassee, FL, for Respondent.
PER CURIAM.
Marshall Mitchell petitions this Court for writ of mandamus. We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(8), Fla. Const.
While we recently struck down the copy requirement portion of section 57.085, Florida Statutes (1999) (hereinafter the Prisoner Indigency Statute), in Jackson v. Florida Dep't of Corrections,
FACTS
On July 24, 1996, petitioner, an inmate in Florida's prison system, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the Leon County Circuit Court. The circuit court treated the petition as one for a writ of mandamus and denied the petition.[1] On *524 September 2, 1997, petitioner filed his notice of appeal in the circuit court and it was forwarded to the First District Court of Appeal on September 4, 1997. On September 10, 1997, the First District issued an order instructing petitioner to pay the filing fee of $250 or obtain an order determining him indigent (for appellate purposes) from the lower court within thirty days. On September 22, 1997, petitioner filed an affidavit of insolvency in the trial court. However, before the circuit court had ruled upon petitioner's request for indigency, on November 4, 1997, the First District dismissed petitioner's appeal. On November 12, 1997, the circuit court denied petitioner's request for indigency because he had failed to submit copies of the complaints or other initial pleadings he had filed in the preceding five years as required by subsection (7) of the Prisoner Indigency Statute. It seems clear from petitioner's numerous motions that petitioner thought that all the courts wanted was information concerning his lack of funds. Therefore, on November 12, 1997, (the same day the circuit court denied his request to proceed in forma pauperis) petitioner filed a response to the First District's dismissal order detailing the cases in which he had been adjudicated indigent, attaching a number of orders from various courts finding him indigent and asserting that his financial circumstances had not changed. He also filed a motion for rehearing in the circuit court. The First District denied petitioner's motion for rehearing/reinstatement in December 1997 and the trial court denied his motion for rehearing in February 1998.
At about that time, it seems clear that petitioner began to understand what the courts had wanted (copies of the initial pleadings and final orders, not the orders on indigency). Nevertheless, he also realized that he no longer had copies of the pleadings from the vast majority of the forty or so lawsuits he had filed in the last five years. Petitioner was eventually able to reassemble his old cases and on February 15, 1999, he filed a second motion for reinstatement in the First District explaining that he did not have the copies before that time and that he had mistakenly thought that the courts only wanted prior orders from other courts finding him indigent. On March 19, 1999, the First District denied petitioner's second motion for reinstatement. On April 8, 1999, petitioner filed his petition for writ of mandamus in this Court and was granted indigency status.[2]
Petitioner alleged that the copy requirement of the Prisoner Indigency Statute violated the constitution under various theories. We decline to discuss any but the access to courts theory.
ACCESS TO COURTS
Petitioner argues that the copy requirement of the Prisoner Indigency Statute is unconstitutional because it results in an insurmountable obstacle to a prisoner's right to access the courts.
*525 Having had several years of experience with the Prisoner Indigency Statute, we must now agree. Petitioner's appeal was dismissed for his failure to provide copies of voluminous pleadings which were only obtainable through great difficulty, delay, and public expense. While the copy requirement does not always result in a complete inability to gain access to the courts, it produces procedural pitfalls so difficult and time-consuming that litigation of the merits of a case becomes less time-consuming and frustrating than being permitted to proceed as an indigent. We must conclude that these requirements have become a door to the Court that some inmates simply cannot open.
There are two sources of the right to access the courts. Florida's constitution specifically guarantees a citizen's access to courts. See art. I, § 21, Fla. Const. The Constitution of the United States does not, however, contain a specific clause providing for this right. The United States Supreme Court, nevertheless, has held that there is such a right arising from several constitutional provisions including the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Equal Protection Clause. See generally Bounds v. Smith,
As pointed out by petitioner's counsel, one problem with Florida's Prisoner Indigency Statute is that the requirement that some inmates comply with the more rigorous copy requirement does not stem from a determination by any court that the inmate has ever filed a frivolous or other improper action. Only inmates who have twice in the preceding three years been permitted to file actions without prepayment of filing fees must comply with these more rigorous requirements. Having filed only two prior actions in forma pauperis is clearly not, in itself, inherently improper. Furthermore, the federal statute upon which the Prisoner Indigency Statute is purportedly fashioned and upon which the State relies to assert that the Florida statute does not amount to an access to courts violation does not contain a copy requirement at all. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915 (Supp. IV 1999). Further, the federal "three strikes" provision to which the State compares Florida's copy requirement only applies when an inmate has been found by a court to have filed three prior in forma pauperis proceedings which were improper.[3] Therefore, if application of these requirements *526 either intentionally or incidentally results in a sanction being imposed on the inmate, there are several constitutional problems. First, no "bad act" has been identified as the basis for the "punishment." Second, if the requirements act to prevent the filing of actions which have not yet even been reviewed to determine whether they are frivolous or otherwise improper, that effect would result in an access to courts violation under the federal constitution.
The copy requirement of Florida's Prisoner Indigency Statute is problematic under an analysis based on Florida's constitution as well. Contrary to the federal constitution, Florida's constitution contains a specific "Access to Courts" provision, found in article I, section 21, that provides:
Access to Courts.The courts shall be open to every person for redress of any injury, and justice shall be administered without sale, denial or delay.
In Kluger v. White,
[W]here a right of access to the courts for redress for a particular injury has been provided by statutory law predating the adoption of the Declaration of Rights of the Constitution of the State of Florida, or where such right has become a part of the common law of the State pursuant to Fla.Stat. § 2.01, F.S.A., the Legislature is without power to abolish such a right without providing a reasonable alternative to protect the rights of the people of the State to redress for injuries, unless the Legislature can show an overpowering public necessity for the abolishment of such right, and no alternative method of meeting such public necessity can be shown.
Id. at 4. In Kluger, the Court found that the test was not met and declared the statute unconstitutional. On other occasions, however, this Court has concluded that statutes had passed the test because the right of action at issue had been only marginally limited. See, e.g., Chapman v. Dillon,
In this case, however, it is not any asserted right to seek redress from the court for any particular injury which has been abolished. Nor is it any asserted right to indigency itself which is at issue. See G.B.B. Investments, Inc. v. Hinterkopf,
In Kluger, only one type of possible legal action was curtailed. In this case, the right to gain access to the courts itself has been infringed. Under Kluger, the Legislature may only abolish a right if it has provided a reasonable alternative, it has shown an overpowering public necessity for the abolishment of the right, and there is no alternative method of remedying the problem. Kluger,
The right to access is specifically mentioned in Florida's constitution. See art. I, § 21, Fla. Const. Therefore, it deserves more protection than those rights found only by implication. See Lloyd v. Farkash,
In a number of cases in which legislative acts were challenged on the ground that a right of recovery had been taken or restricted, this Court held that since a commensurate benefit had been provided as an alternative to the preexisting right, there was no access to courts violation. For example, in Eller v. Shova,
Statutes which precluded prisoners from filing legal actions like the present statute have been found unconstitutional before. See, e.g., Holman v. Hilton,
Accordingly, we grant the instant petition for writ of mandamus and instruct the First District Court of Appeal to reinstate petitioner's appeal.
*529 APPLICATION OF THIS "NEW RULE"
Whenever a court announces a new rule of law the question arises as to who is subject to or who may take advantage of the new rule. A new rule is applied either prospectively only, prospectively and retrospectively to certain nonfinal cases, or prospectively and retrospectively to all cases, even final cases on collateral review.
Normally, a new rule which is not a fundamental change in the law, but merely an evolutionary refinement is generally applied prospectively to most cases, retrospectively to certain nonfinal cases ("pipeline" cases), but never to final cases.[6] In order for an advantageous decisional change to be fully retroactive to final cases on collateral review, it must be of constitutional nature, a "sweeping change of law" of "fundamental significance" constituting a "jurisprudential upheaval[]." Witt v. State,
This Court has examined at least sixty cases since the Witt decision for purposes of deciding whether the "new rule" was a fundamental constitutional change warranting full retrospective application. In practice, because of the strong concern for decisional finality, this Court rarely finds a change in decisional law to require retroactive application.[7] At least two decisions of this Court found that "new rules" concerning habitual offender sentencing were not fundamental changes. In McCuiston v. State,
On the other hand, in State v. Callaway,
Analyzing the instant case, we must first determine whether our decision today was based on analysis of provisions of the constitution. Clearly, our decision in this case is based on both the Florida Constitution and the Constitution of the United States of America. As mentioned above, to determine whether it is of such a fundamental nature as to warrant full retrospective application, we use the three-prong test explained in Stovall. Under Stovall we must consider and balance the purpose to be served by the new rule in our decision, the extent of reliance on the old rule, and the effect that retroactive application of the rule would have on the administration of justice.
The purpose of our decision today in this case is to ensure that the right of access to courts is available to all, a right specifically set forth in our constitution. See art. I, § 21, Fla. Const. Clearly, in order for all to receive this fundamental right, we must apply it to all. Further, due to the administrative problems with the copy requirement, including the lack of the necessary clerical staff to undertake the additional procedures involved in strictly enforcing the requirement, our experience leads us to believe that few courts, including this Court, were able to strictly and consistently enforce it. Therefore, we cannot say that the extent of reliance factor in this case can be very large. Moreover, even assuming strict enforcement of the requirements since its inception, the statute has only been in effect since 1996 and, although we expect some disruption to the administration of justice, we believe the importance of the right being advanced, that of seeking the aid of the justice system itself, must outweigh these concerns.
We have also considered whether we should apply our ruling to "pipeline" cases only. Under that theory, however, the person seeking application of the new rule must have objected at trial.[8] Clearly, applying *531 that strict test of "pipeline" applicability would not work in this mandamus case because the underlying action here was a writ petition filed by petitioner, not his underlying criminal case. Petitioner was not asked to comply with the indigency statute in the underlying action and it was only when he attempted to appeal his case to the district court that he encountered the copy requirement. Therefore, he could not have "objected" below. While this Court could attempt to fashion a type of "pipeline" theory where the person would be able to have his or her case reopened (whether it be an original action in the circuit court, district court, this Court, or an appeal) if he or she had objected to the requirements at some point in the case, we think it would be quite difficult to set a precise definition of "objecting" because there are so many scenarios possible. Further, even if we were to attempt to set forth a definition, it seems to us that the courts would probably spend as much time trying to determine whether each particular inmate met the definition as it would be for them to just allow the inmate to refile his or her case and then decide the case on the merits. With this consideration in mind, we believe that there will be less "upheaval" to the court system in the long run to permit all inmates whose cases were dismissed for failure to comply with the copy requirement to file a motion seeking reinstatement. Further, since this Court has not struck down the payment part of the Prisoner Indigency Statute, meaning that inmates still will need to pay for their lawsuits,[9] we think some inmates will decide that their lawsuits were not sufficiently important for them to seek reinstatement. Therefore, the number of inmates seeking reinstatement should not be overwhelming. Accordingly, balancing the important right of access to courts which underlies our decision in this case with the relative disruption full retrospective application will cause to the judicial system, we conclude that the interests of justice require that the courts apply this new rule to all inmates who file motions seeking to reinstate their cases if they were dismissed for failure to comply with the copy requirement of the Prisoner Indigency Statute.
However, in order to minimize judicial upheaval, we find it necessary to set forth a time frame for the filing of such motions. As is the case with the analogous situation presented when claims are filed under rule 3.850(b)(2) (concerning new rights held to apply retroactively),[10] we hold that any motions seeking to reinstate a closed case under this decision must be filed within two years of the date this decision becomes final.
It is so ordered.
*532 SHAW, HARDING, ANSTEAD, PARIENTE, LEWIS and QUINCE, JJ., concur.
WELLS, C.J., concurs in result only.
NOTES
Notes
[1] Even though the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County treated petitioner's petition as one seeking mandamus relief, no compliance with the Prisoner Indigency Statute was required. Based on the date of the petition, we would assume that the reason was that while the statute had gone into effect, the procedures for implementing the statute had probably not yet been put in place. Even though the court treated the petition as one seeking mandamus relief, it would appear that, for filing fee purposes, petitioner's petition was still treated by the trial court as one for habeas corpus (which has no filing fee). Since the circuit court never asked petitioner for a filing fee or an affidavit of indigency, no order on indigency was ever issued for purposes of the original petition.
[2] It took petitioner some six months and a number of orders from this Court directed to the Department of Corrections before petitioner was able to assemble his 3000 or so pages of prior pleadings so he could comply with this Court's then-policy of requiring strict compliance with the copy requirement part of the Prisoner Indigency Statute. At that time, in order to receive a thorough briefing, we appointed counsel for petitioner.
[3] That federal statute provides, in pertinent part:
In no event shall a prisoner bring a civil action or appeal a judgment in a civil action or proceeding under this section if the prisoner has, on 3 or more prior occasions, while incarcerated or detained in any facility, brought an action or appeal in a court of the United States that was dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous, malicious, or fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, unless the prisoner is under imminent danger of serious physical injury. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g) (Supp. IV 1999) (emphasis added).
[4] In Hinterkopf, the Third District Court of Appeal stated that
The courts have generally disapproved financial pre-conditions to bringing claims or asserting defenses in court aside from court related filing fees. A payment to the court clerk to be used in constructing a county law library as a condition for bringing a lawsuit has been declared an undue burden on the right of free access to the courts. Flood v. State ex rel. Homeland Co.,
Hinterkopf,
[5] See also Bass v. Department of Corrections,
[6] See Wuornos v. State,
[7] See, e.g., Jones v. State,
[8] The "pipeline" theory is explained in this Court's decision in Smith v. State,
We are persuaded that the principles of fairness and equal treatment ... compel us to adopt a[n] ... evenhanded approach to the retrospective application of the decisions of this Court with respect to all nonfinal cases. Any rule of law that substantially affects the life, liberty, or property of criminal defendants must be applied in a fair and evenhanded manner. "[T]he integrity of judicial review requires that we apply [rule changes] to all similar cases pending on direct review." Griffith[ v. Kentucky,
[9] Inmates will have to pay a portion of the filing fee in advance if able and make installment payments toward the full filing fee if and when any funds are deposited into their accounts. See § 57.085(4)(5), Fla.Stat. (1999).
[10] See, e.g., Dixon v. State,
